baied



UNITED STATESPATENT OFFICE.

sAMUEL JQBAIRD, on sTAUnfroN, VIRGINIA.'

MOTIVE POWER FOR SEWING-MACHINES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 85,504, dated January5, 1869.

To all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, SAMUEL J. BAIRD, of Staunton, in Augusta county, inthe State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Mode ofPropelling Sewing Machines and other Machinery; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings and to the letters of referencemarked thereon.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a front view ofthe crank, fly-wheel, and friction-brake.

The nature of my invention consists in cmploying the weight of theoperator as a power for winding up a spiral spring inclosed in acylindrical drum, or otherwise so arranged and connected that theunwinding ofthe spring shall communicate motion to the machine.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, Iproceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the chair seat and back, which is occupied by the operator. It isconnected with the frame of the machinery, C, by a hinge or joint at B,upon which it moves as a fulcrum.

D is a cylinder or drum, inclosin g a spiral spring, D'.

F is a pitman, fastened at the upper end 'by a hinge or joint to theunder side of the seat at the front and at the lower end to the crank E,which connects with the shaft K passing through the drum. To this shaftthe inner end of the spiral spring is fastened, as is the other end tothe inner surface of the drum.

A ily-wheel, G, is attached to the end of the shaft. A crown-wheel andpinion, H and I, are connected with the drum, and convey movement fromit to the connecting-rod O.

When, therefore, the operator takes his seat in the chair A, a gentlemovement of the body backward and forward gives a rocking motion to theseat, which, vibrating on the4 fulcrum B, causes the alternate ascentand descent of the pitman, by means of which a rotary motion is given tothe crank and shaft E and K. The spring is thus wound up in the drum,and the shaft being held by a ratchet and detent,

the power thus exerted is stored in the spring, and is expended in itsgradual unwinding by the revolution of the drum. The motion thusimparted is transmitted to the machinery, to be operated by means of thecrown-wheel, pinion, and connecting-rod O, by a belt or any other meansemployed for such purposes.

The velocity of the motion may be regulated by a thumb-screw, L',controlling the friction-brake L, operating upon the connectin g-rod O,and by the conical pulleys P P', or by any other similar appliances; andthe machine may be arrested by a brake, rubber, or other suitable meansapplied to the fly-wheel of the machine.

The foot-board Nis designed to prevent the spring from carrying theframe C upward from the door, in. connection with the backwardrockingmotion of the operator.

V The fly-wheel Gr not only serves by its m0- mentum to aid in rotatingthe shaft K, but is within reach of the hand for leverage to the samepurpose, and thus obviates any difficulty in carrying the pitman andcrank past the dead-centers.

A modification, of which Fig. 3 is an illus tration, will supersede thecrank and pitman. In this arrangement, the seat A, instead of restingupon the joint or fulcrum B, Fig. 1, at the back of the seat, issimilarly connected by the joint B', Fig. 3, at the front, upon whichthe seat revolves in rocking. The rack Q is fastened firmly to thebottom of the seat at the back, and is bent in the segment of a circle,of which B' is the center.- The teeth of the rack play in those of thepinion R, which revolves upon the shaft K. The pedal-lever S, revolvingupon its fulcrum T, passes freely through the lower end of the rack.

When, therefore, the operator assumes his seat, his weight, thrownbackward in the chair, carries the rack downward, and causes the pinionB to revolve, carrying with it, by the force of a ratchet and deteut,the shaft K, which, revolving in the drum l), Fig. 1, winds up thespring in the same manner as by the pitmau and crank. The operator thenleaning forward, with his foot resting upon the pedal S, the power ofthe lever thus applied carries up the rack and seat7 the pinionreturning the mode of Winding said springs by means freely upon theshaft and taking hold by its of the Weight of the operator, in a rockingdetent for a second movement downward. motion, substantially as abovedescribed, and The other parts oi' the machinery to be as to thepurposes herein indicated. already described. SAMUEL J. BAIRD.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to Vitnesses: secure by LettersPatent, is- C. M. PARKS,

In machines operated by means of springs7 W. R. SINGrLECLOrI.v

